Charging-hopper.



H. TQGSTAD. CHARGING HOPPER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 2. I915.

1 ,1 97,688. v Patented Sept. 12, 1916.

76/5 7 g'rwemtoz 5 44am 0 75667990 attorney UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HAROLD TOGSTAID, 0F MADISON, WISCONSIN.

CHARGING-HOPPER.

Application filed March 2, 1915.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HAROLD ToosTAD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Madison, in the county of Dane and State of \Visconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Charging-Hoppers, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to improvements in charging hoppers, and is particularly adapted for use in connection with concrete mixing machines for the purpose of furnishing or supplying the mixer with the sand, stone, etc., for the concrete.

In most concrete mixing machines with which I am familiar, employing charging hoppers or skips to furnish the ingredients to the mixer, a most objectionable feature accompanying the loading of the material to the mixer, is the tendency of the material as sand, stone, etc., to stick in the hopper or skip and not flow freely to the mixer when being emptied. This difficulty is overcome in present practice by hammering on the hopper to ar the material loose and dislodge it. This practice of course involves time and labor and is detrimental to the hopper, as it requires the attention of a man, and finally wears on the hopper and impairs its utility.

The purpose of my invention is to overcome these difficulties and objections by providing the charging hopper with means for automatically imparting thereto a jolt caused by the abrupt ending of its movement when in charging or loading position and permitting the material in the hopper to be ejected therefrom, by gravity and flow freely into the mixer.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated one complete example of the physical embodiment of my invention constructed according to the best mode I have so far devised for the practical application of the principles of my invention.

Figure 1 is a bottom plan view of the charging hopper and its supporting frame. Fig. :2 is a sectional view on line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view at line 3-3 Fig. 1.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention as illustrated in the drawings the hopper per se is made of sheet metal having bottom portion 1, the converging sides 2 tapering to the open front 3, the back wall 4 and the inclined top portion 5. The shape of the hopper is indicated in the drawings, and it Specification of Letters Patent.

.with the frame.

Patented Sept. 12, 1916.

Serial No. 11,497.

will be apparent that the mouth or open front 3 in full lines Fig. 1 is designed to discharge the material into the usual central opening in the revolving mixer of the concrete machine, while the enlarged or widened rear end 4-5 forms a pocket when the hopper is in vertical position for loading or receiving the material as in dotted lines Fig. 1.

It will be understood that the hopper is designed to swing about a center when being moved from receiving to delivering position, and for this purpose the hopper is supported upon a pair of oscillatable or revoluble frame members 6 which are fixed upon the properly supported and journaled shaft 7 which forms a pivot upon which the frame 1s adapted to swing when lifting or lowering the hopper. The frame members are connected by a pair of cross plates 6 and 6 and at each end of the frame a bumper as at 8 or 9 is provided being formed of a flanged metallic plate rigid On the underside of the bottom of the hopper a pair of metallic plates 10 are fixed having the bent ends 11 and 12. These plates 10 10 are connected by a pair of parallel channel irons l 1 which are spaced from the hopper and form roller tracks, and it will be seen that the cross plates 6' 6 of the frame extend through this space. When the hopper slides it is held to the frame by the cross plates 6 6*. To facilitate the sliding movement of the hopper I utilize two pairs of rollers as 15, 15, 16, 16, the former journaled on the transverse shaft 17 in the frame, and the latter journaled on the pivot shaft 7 upon which the frame swings. The channel irons or tracks 1 pass over these rollers and the side flanges of the channel irons guide and prevent displacement of the hopper. From this description it will be noted that the hopper is capable of a reciprocable movement within limits in the frame 6 and the frame 6 is oscillatable or revoluble with the shaft 7 as its pivot point.

Any suitable mechanism may be employed to rock the shaft 7 such as gears or sprockets and chains, it being necessary and essential that the shaft be rocked by suitable means to swing the frame 6 which is fixed thereto, and thus swing the hopper.

Assume the hopper to be in vertical position as in dotted lines Fig. 1 and receiving material. When filled, the hopper and frame are swung through the arc of the dash lines, by power applied to rock the shaft 7. The position of the hopper at the end of its lifting movement is shown by dotted lines, but the instant this position is reached the hopper rolls or slides down the inclined frame, supported on the rollers until the bumper 12 encounters the bumper 9 as in full lines Fig. 1 and the hopper is ab ruptly halted. This sudden or abrupt stoppage of the hopper causes the material therein to be ejected with a sudden start which dislodges every particle thereof from the hopper and pours the material into the waiting mixer. After the hopper is emptied the shaft 7 is given a reverse rocking movement and the frame is swung clownwardly permitting the hopper to fall or slide by gravity to its lower position with the bumpers 11 and 8 supporting the hopper. The hopper is now in position for filling and when so filled the lifting operation is repeated as described. In this manner a facile operative, and economical and efficient device is provided which overcomes the difliculties and objections before set forth herein.

lVhile I have referred herein to a concrete mixer as the physical embodiment of my invention it will of course be understood that the charging hopper is equally applicable for loading other devices and I therefore do not limit myself to leading concrete mixers, although this application of the invention has thus far proven highly successful and efiicientf lVhat I claim is 1. The combination with a frame including sidebars and connecting cross plates having attached end bumpers and rollers supported in the side bars, of a slidable hopper having longitudinally fixed plates spaced therefrom and provided with end bumpers beyond the frame bumpers, and said cross plates located in the space between the hopper and its longitudinal plates.

2. The combination with an oscillatable frame including side bars, shafts in said frame with rollers thereon and one of said shafts adapted to be supported in bearings, and connecting cross plates having attached end bumpers, of a slidable hopper having longitudinally fixed plates movable over the rollers and spaced from the hopper, end bumpers on the hopper beyond the frame bumpers, and said cross plates located in the space between the hopper and its longitudinal plates.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HAROLD 'roesrnn.

Witnesses I EVELYN LYNCH, EMERSON ELA.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

